Chương 21: Chapter 21
The next day, Saturday of October 5th, Emma and Wyatt met with Jessica outside of the school gates. As Wyatt and Emma were approaching, Jessica looked rather down, but seemed to cheer up as the two of them approached. "Why the long face?" Emma asks.
"Hm?" Jessica asks.
"Uh.. never mind then" Emma says. "So are we just going outside of town, or did you have something else in mind before that?".
"I didn't really have anything else planned" Jessica says, "why?".
Emma turns around and shows her backpack. "I've gotta drop off some stuff at Savvy Threads. Wanna come with?".
Jessica smiles and says "Sure".
As they walk, Wyatt thinks to himself "Everyone has been acting kinda down or bothered lately... now even Jessica. Is there something big going on that I don't know about?".
"Welcome!" Matilda says as the three of them enter the store. "Oh, it's Emma!" Matilda says after noticing the group that entered. "Got something new today?".
"Yeah" Emma says as she takes off her backpack. Today, Emily wasn't at the store with Matilda. Emily was staying home with her parents while they're in town.
The exchange between Emma and Matilda went by quickly. After the two of them finished their business, Matilda asks "So what are you guys doing out together today?".
"Just hanging out" Wyatt says, "and taking some time to relax".
"Well, don't relax too much" Matilda says. "I know it's the weekend, but you still have to worry about school. You guys haven't been skipping on homework, have you?".
"N-no" Jessica says.
"Well, carry on" Matilda says. "See you later, Emma".
"Bye Matilda!" Emma says as they leave.
As the three of them finally make it out to the clearing outside of the forest, they all sit down on the grass. Jessica pulls out some quick snacks like chips and stuff. Wyatt laughs and says "Is this everything? Not much of a picnic".
"Ha ha, yeah" Jessica says. "There wasn't really much I could actually fit in my backpack, and I couldn't afford much either".
"Well, it's fine to just relax anyways" Wyatt says.
"Is there a particular occasion for this?" Emma asks.
"Not really" Jessica says, scratching the back of her head. "Just... bored, y'know? But seriously..." suddenly Jessica's voice seemed to lower, "Thanks for tagging along. I know it isn't much, but I've been needing things to do".
"Hey, it's no problem" Wyatt says. "Is something wrong?".
"It's just..." Jessica says, "I've never really had friends... or at least, not any good ones".
"What do you mean?" Emma asks. "Was it hard trying to make friends in high school too?".
"... Yeah" Jessica says. "I was always kinda a dumb kid... and no one would benefit from being around me".
As the three of them sit down, Jessica begins to explain her past to Wyatt and Emma. Jessica's situation was the same in grade school and in middle school. She could never really get any friends that would stick by her side. Every friend she had made seemed to always leave her behind and forget about her within weeks. Nothing changed for her until her second year of high school.
"See ya later, Sierra!" Jessica says as her class ended.
"Yeah" Sierra says, "maybe after school or something?".
The two of them split up to go to separate classes. It was the final class for their afternoon, before school ended. After their last class, Jessica was leaving through the front doors of the school. Suddenly, she saw Sierra talking with a few other girls in their school. "Oh my god, she's so weird" Sierra says. "She always puts up that innocent act, and pretends like someone actually cares about her".
"Oh my god, really!?" One of the other girls says. "She's dumber than a bag of rocks! Like, girl, she ain't got no money, her family's poor, she doesn't even get good grades... who'd be dumb enough to hang around you?".
As their small group laughs, Jessica sits around the corner. "Calm down, Jessica..." Jessica says to herself. "You're used to this... most people you meet act like this". Defeated, Jessica begins to walk the other way, finding a different route to leave the school grounds. Jessica was so bummed out by her "friend's" choice of words, that she didn't notice where she was going. Jessica accidentally walked into another girl who looked a year younger than her. The other girl couldn't see Jessica coming, because she was struggling to carry books and school supplies. As the two bumped into each other, they both fell onto the ground. "Oh, geez" the girl says, "I'm sorry! I didn't-".
"Here" Jessica says as she helps pick up some of the books that fell to the ground. "Let me help you".
"O-oh... thank you" the girl says. After the two of them pick up the mess, the girl says "My name's Catherine McSurry".
"Oh..." Jessica says. "My name is Jessica Allen, but that doesn't really matter... it's not like anyone is going to remember that in about two weeks anyways".
However, Catherine just smiles and says "That's a silly thing to say. I'm sure you parents put a lot of thought into your name, so it must be important for some reason, right? You can call me Cat, by the way". Catherine then holds out her hand to shake Jessica's.
Jessica shakes her hand, although hesitantly, and then says "Alright... Cat... see ya later". To Cat, those were words of friendship, but to Jessica, those words meant "I'm sure you'll end up just like everyone else".
Over time, the two of them seemed to become almost close friends. Catherine would help Jessica out with understanding her work better, and Jessica tried pretending nothing was wrong in hopes that Catherine wouldn't end up the same as all of the others. However, after about three weeks of knowing each other, Catherine had to make a choice. Jessica and Catherine planned to hang out together after school as usual, but one of Catherine's siblings was involved in an accident. Catherine's younger brother got hit by a drunk driver, and was in critical condition. Catherine was torn, because she wanted to see if her brother was okay as soon as possible, but also wanted to see Jessica. Jessica waited in their usual spot for about 30 minutes. When Jessica became worried that her new friend wasn't coming, she came to look through the hallways to find her. However, after pondering about what to do and trying to take in the news about her brother, Catherine eventually chose to go find Jessica and tell her that she needs to go to the hospital. When Catherine showed up at their usual spot, Jessica wasn't there. In a rush, Catherine ran ahead towards the hospital.
Jessica searched around for Catherine, but when she couldn't find her, she went to Catherine's last class. When there, she asked the teacher, but the teacher said "Catherine left a while ago" and Jessica assumed that meant it finally happened.
When Catherine got to the hospital, the doctors told their family that they would have to move her younger brother to a larger care facility, which unfortunately wasn't in the city. So their family had to move to be able to check in on the injured boy, and eventually be by his side through physical therapy when he finally recovered.
"In the end" Jessica says to Wyatt and Emma, "they all turned their backs on me. No one wanted to be stuck with an idiot as a friend... and one day, even Cat just... didn't show up... and she never showed up after that".
"I'm sorry" Emma says. "B-but, we'd never turn our backs on you!".
"I know you guys won't" Jessica says with a soft laugh. "Even if the others, Jackson, Aeris and Emily don't really show it, I'm sure they won't just leave me here".
"Jackson may be rude" Wyatt says, "but he probably cares about people more than he leads on".
"Y-Yeah" Emma says. "I'm sure he has a soft side".
Jessica laughs and says "We could always ask Aeris! She'd probably know".
"I'd say leave it" Wyatt says. "If we go poking our noses around, Jackson probably wouldn't let us hear the end of it!".
The three of them laugh for a little bit, then "Enough about my dumb old story" Jessica says, "what about your story, Emma?".
"Mine?" Emma asks.
"Yeah, you said you lived here once" Jessica says. "What was it like?".
"What was it like being homeless?" Emma asks. "Depressing, tiresome... hungry".
"No, no" Jessica says, "I mean- what's the forest like? I mean, I get it's just like... a usual forest, but what is it like staying here during the night? Were you ever scared?".
"Scared?" Emma asks. "All the time...".
"How'd you end up homeless?" Jessica asks.
Emma pauses, then says "I don't wanna talk about it".
"... Was it that bad?" Jessica asks. Emma nods her head, then Jessica says "I still kinda wanna go explore through the woods though. Anyone wanna come with?".
"N-no, not really" Emma says.
"Wyatt?" Jessica asks.
"I-uh... I think I'm fine" Wyatt says. "It sounds like it would really bum out Emma, and I don't want to just leave her here alone".
"That's fine" Jessica says.
"We'll wait for you here" Wyatt says.
Suddenly, Emma jumps up and whispers to Jessica "Whatever you find in there, don't talk about it...".
"W-What!? Why!?" Jessica panics.
"Just... promise me you won't" Emma says.
"Okay, I promise... geez" Jessica says. As Jessica separates from the group, she travels deeper into the forest until she's no longer in sight. Climbing over large tree roots sticking out of the ground, and under vines, she eventually catches sight of a small clearing near the middle of the woods. "Oh, this has got to be good" Jessica says to herself. However, when she enters the clearing, she's see the opposite of good. There was the remains of a small burned down house, only the floor remained partially intact, a pond still covered in lilies and flower petals from the surrounding trees, and two headstones with withered flowers at the base. As Jessica crouched down to read the headstones, the words "Mom" And "Dad" were poorly carved into the sides. They weren't proper headstones either, rather, just large rocks found near the pond. "W-was this... Emma's home?" Jessica asks. "B-but this makes no sense... if she were homeless then...". Suddenly, Jessica came to the realization. "Then... this must've been why she went homeless. But why would she live all the way out here? Why would her house burn down? Are these her parents? How did-". Suddenly, Jessica remembers Emma saying "Whatever you find in there, don't talk about it". "Oh..." Jessica says to herself, tears nearly forming in her eyes. "All this time... and I couldn't even see it. Emma doesn't have parents anymore... and if she lived out here away from humans... then she's probably a laibah too... How could I not see this? I've been a terrible friend...".
When Jessica exits the forest, Wyatt and Emma were waiting for her at the same place she left them at. "Did you see anything particularly interesting?" Wyatt says with a short laugh.
"Just a bunch of dumb ol' trees" Jessica says.
Eventually, the three of them decided to head home. As the night grew late, Emma grew restless. "Are you okay?" Wyatt asks.
"Y-Yeah" Emma says.
"You know I'm gonna keep worrying anyways" Wyatt says with a short laugh. "Just remember, if you need to talk, you can tell me anything".
Emma smiles and says "I know. Thank you, Wyatt".
The next day, Emma follows Wyatt around. Wyatt hasn't told Emma about what they're going to do for their date, so Emma was confused as she followed him around. Eventually, the two of them returned to the clearing outside of the forest. "What are we doing back here?" Emma asks.
"Well" Wyatt says, "Jessica did say it's good to look back at your past and see how far you've come, but you didn't exactly seem very... content. So I wanted to remind you of something, in hopes that I can help you through what you're going through". Wyatt reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small ring.
"W-What is-" Emma begins to ask.
"It's a promise ring" Wyatt says as he hands it over to Emma. "I wanted it to be a token of my promise I made to you, that I won't leave your side no matter what may ever happen. I-I mean- the ring was cheap, but a promise is still a-".
Wyatt gets interrupted by Emma jumping onto him and hugging him. "Thank you!" She says.
Wyatt laughs gently and says "You may have had to live alone here, without a home not too long ago... but now look at you! You can always count on me to be with you, and there's also Jessica, Jackson, Aeris and Emily too! There's always room to grow, but I also want you to know that I hope to be able to be by your side as you continue to grow. I realize that sounds kinda cheesy, but-".
"Thank you so much!" Emma says, still holding onto Wyatt. "... I think... I think that's more help than I could ask for, Wyatt. I think it's what I really needed... it means a lot to me".
Wyatt smiles and says "I may be clueless about a lot of things, but that won't stop me from trying".
The two of them simply lay in the field together. Not much was done during this date of theirs, but to them, it felt like they had made another big step together. The days they spent alone together always seemed to go by so fast, as Monday already approached. Most of The Rejects entered the classroom at nearly the same time. However, shortly after they took their seats, some of the other students came to the back of the large classroom. "You guys are laibah, aren't you?" One of the student asks. "You guys are always so weird, so we're sure of it!".
"No" Jessica says. "Now leave us alone".
"Admit it!" Another student says. "You're all laibah, aren't you?".
Jackson sighs and says "I'm not in the mood for this shit... look, if you don't go away and sit down, I'll kick you so hard in the ass that you'll never able to to sit again! Understand!?".
"You try it" the same student says, getting closer to Jackson. "See what happens".
Jackson stands up, ready to fight, but suddenly Refus enters the classroom. "Jackson! Marcus! What are you two doing?".
"Yeah, what are you going to do, you piece of shit?" The student named Marcus says quietly.
Jackson squints at Marcus, then looks over at Refus and says "Nothing... Mr. Maloney".
"Then sit down, all of you" Refus says. "None of this in my class, got it?".
Marcus and his band of friends walk away laughing. "Well, here we go" Aeris says. "Only about a quarter of the way through our first year, and we're already getting trouble like this... great".
"Hey, it wasn't my fault!" Jackson says. "He started it!".
"And I'm finishing it" Aeris says. "Don't get us in trouble!".
"No" Jessica says, "I'll finish it. If they want to start trouble, I'll give them trouble".
"Wait- Jessica, calm down" Emily says. "Just... take your time to think about it. If we can find a way to fix this without getting expelled, then we'll all benefit, won't we?".
"Exactly!" Aeris says.
"I-I-Is there going to be trouble?" Emma asks.
"Not if we can handle it" Wyatt says. "Don't worry. We'll be fine. We all will, including Jessica and Jackson".
"Do you have a plan?" Emily asks.
"Not quite yet" Wyatt says, "but for now, we'll just have to take it one day at a time".
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